Relatives of Palestinian detainees have fresh hopes for the conclusion of a prisoner exchange deal with Israel, but nothing rules out Israel pre-empting the deal by force, writes Saleh Al-Naami Despite Nahia Al-Murshid's old age and chronic health problems, she determinedly tunes in to radio broadcasts, always hoping for good news. Nahia lives in Deir Al-Balh city in central Gaza. She has been waiting for Israel and Hamas to reach an agreement on an exchange of prisoners that would release hundreds of held Palestinians in return for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Nahia fears that she will breathe her last before she gets a chance to embrace her son Hazem, who is 35 years old and who was sentenced to life-imprisonment on charges of participation in a military operation against occupation forces in Gaza. "Every moment that passes feels like a year has gone by, but I am not despairing yet. I still have hope that Hazem will soon knock on our door," Nahia told Al-Ahram Weekly. Nahia is one of many mothers whose sons are languishing in Israeli prisons. All are hoping for their release. Nahia's optimism has been fed by news leaks from the Palestinian, Arab and Israeli press on progress in negotiations between Israel and Hamas in terms of the prisoner exchange. One of these news leaks talks about an Egyptian security delegation that will meet with Hamas leaders in Gaza to reach an understanding about transporting Shalit from Gaza, paving the way for a prisoner-exchange. According to some news sources, Mohamed Ibrahim, deputy minister of the Egyptian secret services, will meet with group leaders who abducted Shalit in order to reach an understanding with them about final details of the exchange. Some Palestinian sources said that Israel recently accepted the list of prisoners that Hamas requested to be released in the exchange. Ayman Taha, a prominent Hamas leader, denied rumours of a breakthrough in efforts to reach an agreement on the prisoner-exchange. Taha told the Weekly that mediators are working intensively on the deal, but he denies the reported identities of new mediators. Palestinian sources reported to the Weekly that both rumours of the prisoner-exchange deal's completion and Hamas's denial of progress are inaccurate. These sources also said that progress had been made in negotiations, but there is still work to be done by mediators in order to complete the deal. Progress does depend on other parties besides Egypt participating in the attempted mediation between Hamas and Israel. The Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot reported that the US is playing an important role in pushing the mediation efforts forward, using the US relationship with Syria to put pressure on Hamas to conclude the deal. Egypt is exerting considerable pressure on the efforts to reach a deal. A number of Hamas leaders are staying on in Cairo to conclude the deal and Egyptian secret service officers are relaying Hamas's positions to the Israelis. It is expected that Haday Hajai, special envoy of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, and specially employed to deal with Shalit's release, will be travelling to Cairo. One prominent Israeli minister warned that time is against Israel in concluding the deal with Hamas to release Shalit. Binyamin Bin Eliezer, minister of trade and industry and a member of the security cabinet, said that Shalit must be released at any cost. Bin Eliezer frowns on his colleagues who refuse the release of Palestinian prisoners that have killed Israeli soldiers or civilians, saying that it wouldn't be the first time that Israel released these kinds of prisoners. Last Monday, on an Israeli army radio broadcast, Bin Eliezer said: "I urgently advise that we pay the price and end this case. If you wanted to make the deal conditional, let the Israeli Supreme Court judge announce it, but we must bring Shalit home." Bin Eliezer refused to go into the details of Shalit's case, saying: "I cannot comment, but to say that we must bring Shalit home." Bin Eliezer revealed that he asked one of the security directors at a weekly government meeting whether or not there was any change in Hamas's position since Shalit was captured. "However, unfortunately, my question was not answered, not because he did not want to answer but because security officers are not allowed to talk about this issue." Bin Eliezer added: "Our president, since taking office, has done his utmost to end this issue. I am hoping that Shalit will be returned before the holidays. I think that people are slowly beginning to realise that time is against us." Shaul Mofaz, former minister of defence, demanded that Netanyahu conclude the prisoner-exchange deal with Hamas and release Palestinian prisoners convicted of murdering Israeli soldiers and citizens in order to secure Shalit's release. Mofaz said to the Israeli press: "Netanyahu should finish the deal and release the Palestinian prisoners so Shalit can be released." Mofaz added: "If I was president, I would finish the deal and agree to release the prisoners who have blood on their hands in order to return Shalit to his house peacefully." Palestinian researcher Fouad Al-Khafash warns against listening to Israeli talk of progress in negotiations, saying that it may simply be a disguise for Israel planning to release Shalit by force. Al-Khafash said that while Israel appears to be working to reach an agreement with Hamas by sending two envoys to Cairo, at the same time Israeli secret service officers have been working day and night to try to reach Shalit and free him by force. "I expect that the deal will not be concluded soon, and that rumours of the deal's nearing conclusion are Israeli attempts to draw attention to the deal, while Israeli secret services search for Shalit's exact location," Al-Khafash told the Weekly. Al-Khafash added that some news media, especially Internet media, are publishing false reports on the deal's near conclusion. Amir Oren, a prominent Israeli soldier, said that Israel still has hope that Shalit might be released by force. Oren reported in Haaretz newspaper that Netanyahu's appointment of Hadas shows that Israel is not ruling out the possibility of Shalit's return by force. Hadas has been responsible for many covert joint operations carried about by Mossad and the Israeli army. Hadas was the mastermind behind an assassination attempt on Hamas's political bureau chief Khaled Meshaal in Amman in the summer of 1997. Oren quoted Hadas as saying that Shalit's release "requires a long and arduous war of minds," which refers to the need to intensify military and intelligence work to ensure his release. Oren adds that both Netanyahu and Hadas believe that prisoner exchange deals with Arab and Palestinian resistance movements represents submission to "terrorism". What further reinforces the idea that Netanyahu lacks commitment to negotiate for Shalit's release is the fact that Hadas is not fluent in Arabic like his predecessor, Ofer Dekel, who resigned from his position after Netanyahu was elected. As well as his role in Israeli covert operations, Hadas also served as deputy commander of a special unit of paratroopers in which he participated in many operations. Hadas also supervised many of the operations of Ehud Barak, current minister of defence, when he was chief of division of military intelligence and chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. Despite what Al-Khafash and Oren say, Israel's success in releasing Shalit by force not only requires quality intelligence information, but also a guarantee that Shalit will not be killed in an attempt to free him. Most Israeli experts agree that this is impossible to assure.
